Dark Waters
by Riniko22
Summary: Ranma and Genma's trip to Jusenkyo turned out differently than planned. Girl Ranma with a Forgotten Realms twist, that impacts the rest of the story greatly. Two minds fused, a mix of magic and martial arts, well it is anything goes. currently in editing.
1. Chapter 1

Author: Riniko22

Disclaimer: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

AN: It is likely that some of you reader's will realize what is happening to Ranma earlier than others, but I hope you enjoy the somewhat slow start none-the-less.

Edited for grammar errors 5/01/10

Chapter 1: Dark Waters

"Hey, what's the big deal Pop's, this place don't look that special to me." Ranma said while dodging under his father's attack to the back of his head.

"Boy, this is obviously a special training ground for balance and aerial combat training. Now jump up on to one of the poles and let's start training before we lose anymore of the day," Genma snapped, hoping no one noticed them before they finished training for the day. He had watched the caretaker leave while he had Ranma setup their camp earlier, planning to avoid any fees for using the training grounds. No one would live out here in the middle of nowhere if there were not some money in being here.

Looking at his old man with a cocky grin, Ranma jumped up on to one of the many bamboo poles that stuck up from the pools that dotted the valley floor. Landing in a Crane stance with his arms stretched out for balance, he boasted, "Bring it on old man. I'm going to kick your fat lazy ass from one end of these pools to the other."

"Just for that boy, I'm going to make you eat those words. I won't be going easy on you this time," Genma snapped before springing forward with a flying butterfly kick towards his son's head.

"That's how I want it, old man," Ranma growled as he ducked under his father's next attack and spun around on his pole driving a fist into his father's exposed back.

The battle went on between the two martial artists's for the next ten minutes as each combatant hurled verbal attacks at each other while evading or blocking any serious physical blows from the other. As the minutes wore on in their battle, Genma's mind drifted between pride in his son's marital arts skills and a host of other baser emotions that largely dictated the course of the man's life. Soon the balance of these forces began to tip and Genma's focus shifted more from father and trainer to showing that he was still Ranma's better. With that, Genma stopped holding back on strikes that while still painful were not harmful or could lead to serious injury. "Now, boy I will teach you why I am still your better," snapped Genma, as he struck out at Ranma with a vicious kick that tore though Ranma defenses.

"Hey pops! Cut it out before I have to hurt you," Ranma yelled at his old man trying to break through Genma's defenses. However, he was having a harder time countering or softening the blows that his father continued to throw his way. He would need to try something dirty to distract the old man for a second and hopefully a cold swim would bring the baka out of this. Reaching into his shirt pocket he quickly grabbed a travel biscuit that he had saved from that morning's breakfast and threw it to the left of his father's face. Then while his father's attention was momentarily captured. Ranma dropped down and used the pole he had just landed on to spin around and land a powerful side kick to the right side of his father's head sending him into the next pool with a massive splash.

Ranma had just avoided being slashed himself with the pool's water by springing backwards off the pole when it started to snap back the other way. Landing gracefully atop another pole a short distance a way, Ranma waited for his father to resurface while breathing heavily from the exertion. If Ranma had hoped this dunking would break his father out of his furor, he was sadly mistaken. As he waited for his father to surface, a large form shot upwards out of the water and brutally struck him, the force of the blow propelling him nearly twenty meters backwards into a small dark pool. It was with some small mercy that Ranma lost consciousness, relaxing his body before painfully striking the pool's far bank and slipped under the dark icily cold waters of the cursed spring.

Genma's rage satiated now that he had taught his disrespectful son a lesson on who is the real master of Any Thing Goes, slowly started to come back to his senses again. "Now, where did that lazy boy disappear to?" Or, that was what he tried to say before he became aware that he was just growling and grunting, and that his whole body felt strange to him. Looking down he could see that he was still wearing his gi, but his body was covered in coarse black fur and that his hands were deformed and stunted. 'When and how did this happen? He could remember fighting Ranma and then pushing his training up a notch, then the boy did something and he was wet. It happened when he hit the water; it was the boy's fault. Then after Ranma knocked him into the water, he resurfaced hitting the boy across the valley and into another pool.'

Genma had never been called a genius, or even particularly bright, but it did not take one to add the facts together and come up with an answer. 'The boy was hiding from him, the coward knew what he had done and was trying to avoid his punishment. Well when he found the boy, he would teach his son another lesson. With that brilliant deduction Genma began to hop off in the direction he had last seen the boy.'

When Ranma awoke, he found himself floating in a formless white mist with no clear idea of how he came to be there. 'The last thing that he could fully remember was fighting his father, and then knocking the baka into one of the many pools doting the training ground in an attempt to knock some sense back into his fat head. No, there was one other thing that he could vaguely remember, but it made no sense to him. After he had knocked Genma into one of the pools, he had been waiting for the old fool to resurface when he was instead surprised and attacked by a giant monkey wearing the old man's clothes.'

For all his faults, Ranma was still no Genma and as crazy, as it all seemed he knew what happened. 'It had to have been magic, this was not the first time that they had come across it before in their travels. Not after all the strange and exotic places, his old man had taken them to study their style of martial arts. However, they had never stayed long at those places, quickly moving on as soon as his father discovered about anything magical in their training. He believed that his father actively feared anything magical. This whole mess was entirely his baka father's fault. The old man had brought them to this crazy training ground to train and it had done something to him when he fell into the water. Then the old man had turned around and uh … well … Genma must have killed him.' This must be the afterlife, looking around Ranma was less than suitably impressed with it.

"Well your half right human, it is the water that changed your father and brought you here. But, you are mistaken about this being the afterlife, your not dead yet. Though that may soon change," the strangely accented feminine voice seemed to say in his mind.

"Is that a threat lady? Because if it is you will regret it," Ranma yelled back defiantly at the voice.

"No, child, it is not a threat", the woman's voice lilted back at him. "I mean you no harm, but it is a fact. If steps are not taken soon you will die," and with these words the voice seemed to lose all playfulness and became very serious. "You are dying child, the blow your now cursed father struck you with drove you into the pools bank, injuring you greatly and you are drowning in the pools dark waters as we speak. There is still a way to save your life, but, there will be a heavy price to be paid."

"What do you mean lady, that there is a price? Are you saying you are going to just stand back and watch me die, do you have no honor. Even my ass of a father, as greedy and self-centered as he is would never refuse to save a life," Ranma snapped back at the woman.

"No, child that is not what I said exactly," the woman said with a sharp edge that had lost any trace of amusement. "It is not that I will not help you, it's that I can not help you unless you allow it. Now, let me try to explain while we still have a little time left, though it will need to be quick and I will not have time to answer very many of your questions. However, when this is over you will know as much as I know. Do you agree?"

"Uh, yea as it doesn't seem like I've got much choice if I want to live. Can you tell me more about who you are and how you got here? And I don't want to seem ungrateful for your help or anything, but how are you going to keep me alive?" Ranma asked the strange women.

"It may be difficult for you to believe, but the waters of these springs cross many worlds beyond your own, forming a nexus of realities tying all these different dimensions together. If you knew all of the possible fates that may have befallen you from landing in some of the pools here you would find even your father's curse to be a blessing of mercy," the woman stated to Ranma.

Ranma after hearing this and thinking about how horrified he was when he realized that the ape happened to be his father began to shutter thinking about what could be worse. It was about this time that Ranma put two and two together about what his own curse would be. "I'm going to turn into a girl," he yelled in shock.

"Yes, child that is a part of what the cursed spring's water has done to you, but you will also not be human anymore either. The race that I belong to does not exist on your world, or has not in many thousands of years. If what I have gathered from my meditations since my spirit became trapped in your world is accurate. Nevertheless, do not fear that you will be seen as an outsider, my form is not so different that it will be impossible to pass as one of your world's own. Now, I wish to tell you the price that your survival will cost. The waters of this pool have already changed your form as soon as you landed in the pool, but that has done nothing to remove the injuries it suffered. To repair this damage a much greater change will need to take place, if you agree I will pass the last of my energies into you. This will change your body further as you and I will effectively be fusing into one being, you will in effect gain all that I was before I drowned within these cursed waters. With this knowledge do you still agree to the deal or will you give up and be joining me here in this prison."

Ranma thought about what she had said and made his decision quickly before he could talk himself out of it. "Ranma Saotome does not quit; I will never just give up as long as I have a chance at life!" And, with those words Ranma felt everything shift as he felt his lungs begin to burn with the need for oxygen, he could feel the other presence begin to move away and start to fade into his mind. The fact that she did not try to force herself upon him told him everything he needed to know about her. He could not abandon the first person that he could remember in his short life that was willing to give up everything for him. Refusing to allow her to die within his mind, he reached out and pulled her back to him, he would not allow her to sacrifice herself by drowning within his mind regardless of the cost.

With greedy gasps, she pulled the fresh air into her burning lungs as her form broke the waters chilly surface. With a few tired strokes, she reached the edge of the pool pulling her body onto the dry shore between the pools and rolled over so that she could rest on her back. Within seconds, she fell asleep too drained to care about how exposed this left her.

Genma had been hopping from pole to pole looking for his disrespectful son with no luck, having pasted the pool that Ranma had landed in earlier. He had finally calmed down after the adrenaline began to purge from his system. Jumping down in a large open area past the pools he began to think back over what had happened since entering the valley. He and Ranma had started to spar after setting up camp, and the sparing had moved from training into more of a brutal contest of wills. Over the last few years, Ranma had become increasingly more difficult for him to control. He had started to worry that he had waited too long to end the training trip. So, he had planned Jusenkyo to be the last stop before heading back, now it seemed to have been one stop to many.

Looking down Genma was horrified to see the changes that had happened to his body. He was an animal, this accursed place had stripped the very humanity from his body, and how could he ever go back like this. And, what had happened to Ranma he had not seen him since backhanding the boy away in a blind rage. It had been as if his mind had regressed into the animal he had become, he had lost all control. Had he lost his son to this place, had Ranma been turned into something too small for him to notice? Then a thought hit him, if he had noticed would he have been able to hold back the blind rage that had overtaken him before killing his own son. It was with these disturbing thoughts on his mind that he was startled out of his musings by a yell.

"You Sir, uh Madam, uh Gorilla! What you do here? This place very dangerous, very bad, now you cursed to be gorilla," a high nasally male voice said from somewhere behind him.

Turning around quickly, Genma could see a fat middle-aged Chinese man dressed in old green military fatigues holding a rifle pointed loosely in his direction. Genma threw his arms up quickly to show that he was unarmed and not a threat, not realizing until too late how that may look in his present form. He then dived to the ground cowering as a shot whizzed over his head.

"Don't move honored customer, until I know you not crazy I no can trust," the man nervously yelled at the ape. "Curse only temporary, cold water activates the curse and hot water deactivates the curse. If you understand me raise your right arm and then turn around slowly," the guide yelled.

Genma breathed a sigh of relief as he followed the guide's instructions, having forgotten his previous worries, he suddenly found himself glad to be alive. Now, all he would need to do is change back and get the guide to help him locate Ranma and they could leave this place. "OK, honored customer, follow me to my house and I will get you changed back," Genma heard.

On the way back through the pools, Genma followed the guide's movements very carefully in fear of falling into another pool by accident. One curse was bad enough; he did not want to think about what the results would be if he fell into another of these pools. They were about halfway across the valley when Genma heard the guide's voice again.

"Oh, it looks like this has been a very bad day for customers, I see a body near the old pools" he said while pointing towards a hard to see form lying in the area between two pools. "Customer, wait here please, I will go over and check, yes?"

Genma nodded to show he understood the man, and sat down to wait, worried that the body may be that of his missing son. He was held back only by the desire not to make the guide any more nervous as the man still carried his rifle in a ready stance. He just waited, hoping that his son had somehow been able to avoid falling victim to any of the pools dark magic.

As the guide approached, he could tell that the body had not fallen into any of the non-humanoid pools that dotted the valley. As he got nearer he could make out the form better, he could tell from the shape that it was a young woman with dark ebony skin and long fiery auburn hair. For a moment he was confused as to wither, the woman had fallen into one of the pools, but as he got closer, he saw that one of the old pools had turned a pure blue color, a sign of an uncursed spring. This was troublesome, there was very little known of these pools, and none that he had ever heard of had fallen into that spring. He only hoped that this day would not become any more exciting.

When she awoke, it was late in the evening and she could tell that she lay in a warm and reasonably comfortable bed. She had instinctively feigned still being at rest as soon as consciousness had began to return, listening to the conversation that was going on nearby. As she listened, she slowly became more relaxed; realizing that one of the voices was that of her baka father in this world. At least here, she only feared her father killing her by accident, unlike her other father who would have made it part of a plot to wrest even more power over the other houses. Her father seemed to be badgering the other about a cure for their curses, that there had to be something that could be done about it. He also seemed to be especially worried about why his son's curse was not releasing, there seemed to be something behind this besides simple concern for his son's welfare. She would question him about this later, but for now, she had more immediate concerns, as her stomach began to demand her attention.

"Ai, honored customer is awake. Young Miss, how are you feeling? Is hungry, yes? I will get you a bowl, you is in luck tonight, we have very special sweet and sour Cantonese pork," he said while moving off to get her a bowl.

As the guide walked off to get her dinner, her father moved over to her, looking at her with a disappointed look on his face. "Ranma, you have let me down. Are you weak? I raised you to be a man among men, and this is how you repay me by turning into a weak and worthless girl. What am …," Genma rant at this point was cut off abruptly by a crackling in the air, as he suddenly became the target of his new daughter's ire.

Looking on the scene in front of him, the guide could swear that a bolt of lightning had struck the loud man and that it had come from the woman on the bed. Whatever the truth of the matter, Genma's rant had ended with him out cold on the floor smoking and twitching every few seconds. Then a startling change of emotions came over the girls face, as she shifted from anger to smiling at him in a very pleased way.

"Oh, I'm so sorry; it looks like my father will be unable to join us tonight for dinner. However, do not worry; I am sure that he would not want us to insult your hospitality by not eating his share. Now, what can you tell me about the curses, and of the area around us?" Then with a look that seemed to pain her, she bowed her head toward him and said, "I am deeply shamed by my poor manners, Sir. I have felled to properly give you my name and ask you yours, I hope you can forgive me for this slight. My name is Saotome Liriel."

With a touch of nervousness the guide bowed back to her and said, "Oh, honored customer, I am not in the least offended. You had only just awoken in a strange place, and then before you could recover yourself, that man shamed you. I am most honored to meet you, I believe that you may be the first person in a long time to ask for my name and politely give your own. I am Wu Fa, but I have become more comfortable with just being called Guide. If you call me that I will know you mean it respectfully."

"Thank you, most honored Guide," Liriel replied in return as she listening to Guide tell her all about Jusenkyo and the people that lived in the region over their dinner. The man seemed very eager to pass on as much information as possible. Likely because he seldom had any of the visitors to Jusenkyo ever stop and listen to what he had to say before going right out and doing something stupid. After dinner had finally settled and before the area lost all light, Liriel asked Guide to lead her back towards the pool that she had fallen into. At first, he was hesitant to do so until she explained what she planned to do and that there would be no danger involved.

Reluctantly, Guide led her back through the pools to where he found her. He watched her take a few deep breaths and then start to speak in a musical language that seemed to slide away from his ears. It was at this point that he had to blink his eyes in shocked surprise, as her body seemed to ripple somewhat as her hands and feet elongated with webbing forming between the digits and gills formed along her long neck. He was frozen, unable to move when she dived into the pool's clear blue water and started swimming downward towards the spring's bottom.

Liriel body shivered from the chill of the pool's cold water, and she could feel the magic of the pool reaching out towards her trying to bind her to the pool once more. However, she easily resisted the pull having been its prisoner for so long had taught her all the secrets she needed to do so. When she reached the bottom of the small pool, she started to use her hands to dig into the sandy bottom. After a few minutes of digging, she reached what she was looking for and began to collect what she found into an old rice sack. It was a long and emotionally tiring job, as it reminded her of what had been taken from her so long ago. When she finished locating the last piece of her grim work, there was no regret in her as she began to swim upwards towards the surface.

As he waited near the pools edge, the Jusenkyo guide began to worry about the strange woman's safety. He found it odd that the pools were so dangerous to those that came to train here and yet never seemed to offer any harm to him or his family. But, that did not mean he did not respect and fear them. At the minutes added up he carefully stepped closer to the waters edge to peer down toward the bottom, while he could not made out much he was relieved by there being some movement in its depths. By the third time that he got up to look, he could detect that the girl was coming back to the surface again. Staying up this time, he offered her his hand to help pull her up onto the pool's bank.

"Honored customer, I hope you are finished with what you were doing down there. It is getting cold and the waters have other dangers besides the magical ones because of this. Come let us hurry back and warm ourselves before you are sickened by the chill?"

"Yes, I am finished with my task and thank you for your concern for my health. It was important that I finish this task before my father could interfere or learn of it. I would ask that you not repeat anything that you have seen or heard tonight to him or anyone else, unless it would be dangerous for you not to remain silent. That is all that I ask of you, honored Guide of Jusenkyo. I also wish to give you this gift for your kindness to me and my ungrateful father," as Liriel finished, she handed Guide a large golden coin.

When she handed him the coin he at first did not believe that it was what it seemed to be, but as she released it, he could feel the golden coin's weight and knew that it was solid gold. "Honored customer did not need to pay me for my help; I would have done what I could regardless. But, I will not dishonor you by refusing your gift, and know that I will use the wealth you have given me wisely to care for my wife and family," Guide said as he bowed low to what he now knew or believed to be a very ancient and powerful entity.

When they returned to Guide's home, Liriel could see that her father was still out cold on the floor as she had expected. He was breathing regularly and was still likely to remain unconscious for several more hours. Not wishing to take any chances about this, she cast a small spell on him to ensure that he remained out for the rest of the night and dragged him over to a corner of the room, to be out of the way. Not understanding why she did so, she pulled his blanket from his pack and covered him with it.

Them Liriel, walked back to the bed that Guide insisted that she use for the night and began to go through her old pack and the sack that contained the items she had recovered. With great care, she started to remove some belongings from her pack. She then proceed to place these items into a much smaller belt pouch that did not seem as if it should have been able to hold a tenth of this. After she was finished with her work, she cast another small spell that caused the pouch at her belt to fade from view. Satisfied with her work, she placed the folded clothing that she intended to wear the next day onto the nightstand before laying down to mediate for the night and further reorder her newly combined memories.

Author's notes: I hope you have enjoying this story so far, it has the longest chapter I have written for a story so far. I will be continuing to work on my other stories after the holidays are over. I just could not seem to get this one out of my head and could not work on my school reports until I did so. If you have any suggestions or notice a mistake in my writing, I will be happy to take the help. Fight scenes are not my strongest point, as I am sure they are more many others, so forgive me if they seem weak. If you can write a better one and I use it, I will credit you for the help. Thanks again for all your support so far and I look forward to your continued reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Riniko22

Disclaimer: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

AN: It is likely that some of you reader's will realize what is happening to Ranma earlier than others, but I hope you enjoy the somewhat slow start none-the-less.

Chapter 2: Dark Waters

The continuing integration of Liriel/Ranma's mind and memories proceeded with surprising ease. The fusing of the two personalities into Liriel Saotome being helped along by the fact that neither of the two older core personalities had fought the other for dominance. Instead, they had embraced the merger, rather than destroying their other half. Through this, they had found that despite their differing backgrounds that they still had much in common. Both had survived a difficult childhood with little to no parental love, and each trained by their father's in a highly disciplined and rigorous field of study for his future designs. In addition, both had a deep inter need for someone else to understand and love them. In the end, they had found that they had much more in common than they had differences between them.

After Liriel rested several hours within a deep meditative state, she roused herself back to full consciousness. When she felt assured that the other two were still asleep, she stealthfully slipped out of the bed and proceeded to dress in the clothes that she had set out earlier. Finishing this she soundlessly left Guild's home and moved across the valley to collect several samples of spring water. This was an action that she did not want anyone else to witness. She had planned this early morning excursion so, that there would be no annoying questions asked of her later by either her father or Guide. She moved carefully between the pools having planned exactly which spring she wished to use to test her theories about the spring's relationship to her, after talking with Guide last night. Reaching into her pouch, she removed several steel vials, filling each one with some of the spring's water. After filling and capping the forth vial, she rose and moved away from the pools to test her theory.

When Liriel was well away from the magical springs, she began to scan the area for signs of animal life using her superior hearing and night-vision to find a suitable test subject. Within minutes, she detected the lingering heat traces of a small animal and began to track it down. Catching up to the animal, she found a rabbit nibbling on some fresh grass. Eying a small stone on the ground, she picked it up and whipped it towards the rabbit, stunning it with a head shot. Walking up to it, she pulled one of the vials out pouring the water onto the stunned animal. After verifying that the water was really from the Spring of Drowned Twins, she carried the rabbits back towards the pools. Finding one of the safer pools for her second test, she dipped the rabbit into the water to see if a second curse would be blocked or mix with the first. As the rabbit touched the water, it shifted in her hands turning into a small black piglet. Satisfied that the curses did mix she carried the two animals back to Guide's home and placed them both in a holding pen until they were ready to be eaten.

Liriel then moved over to the front door of the small house, setting her ear against the door, using her sensitive hearing to determine if anyone had yet risen. When she was convinced that both men inside were still sleeping, she reached into her belt pouch, pulling a vial out to test the second part of her theory. If she was correct in her thinking nothing would happen, but if she was still susceptible to the transformational effects of the springs the most she would have to worry about would be twining herself. After uncorking the vial, she suppressed her innate resistance to magic and poured the water across her outstretched arm. With some slight disappointment at having her theory confirmed in regards to her immunity, she slipped the vial into her vest pocket for later reuse. There was only one other test that she planned to conduct, but that could wait until her father was once again awake. Going back towards the cursed springs, Liriel proceeded to fill several more vials from carefully selected springs. Making sure that each time, she inscribed the appropriate symbol onto the vial's cap before storing it away.

When she finished, she proceeded back to the small house to practice her katas before the sun could fully rise. After the second hour of her practice she was feeling better about her movements, she would still need to retrain herself on the more intensive techniques movements, but she was satisfied for now. In fact, she could tell that while she had lost a little of her former body's mass and strength that she had gained much more agility and speed with this body. Thinking about her new body made her realize other facts about it that were somewhat amusing and embarrassing at the same time. She could tell from her observations, having used her memories of her father as a base, that she was now almost two inches taller than her old male form being around five foot three inches now. She was also lighter that she had been as a male by a good twenty pounds or so, putting her at around 116 pounds, following this world's system of measuring height and weight. (1)

Genma slowly began to awaken to the painful signs of what he at first believed must have been a real bender of a night out. The morning's sun that was coming from the window was brutally burning a path though his eyes directly into his brain. He was confused about how he had gotten to where ever it was that he seemed to be. The last thing he could vividly remember was sparring with the boy atop some poles at what appeared to be a lame training ground. The only danger that you would likely have faced if you fell off would have been getting wet. But, for some reason he did not understand things just seemed to have gotten strangely distorted after the boy caught him by surprise knocking him into one of the springs. He must have somehow hit his head or the boy was getting stronger than he thought, because he could swear that he had turned into a gorilla and the boy had become a strange dark-skinned girl. Shaking these crazy thoughts from his mind he began to study the area around him (Genma was using his nose to detect if there was any food cooking). It was at this point that he realized that he was starving, and forced his body to get up to look for something to eat before making the boy do breakfast training.

Spying his pack set against the wall, Genma painfully pulled himself to his feet. Walking over to his pack, he began to dig though it to where he had stashed a few Power Bars that he had picked up (shoplifted) in the last town they had passed though. Having made sure that the boy was not around, he quickly finished them off, tossing the empty wrappers onto the still hot coals of the pot-bellied stove to keeping Ranma from knowing. That out of the way, he began to take a more active notice of his surroundings. He found himself looking around a large open room that could be the entire house if the two doors he noticed only led to the outside. In a large bed in the corner he could see a large lump hidden by a blanket, whoever it is they were too big to be his son. Moving on over to one of the doors, he opened it to see where the lazy boy had gotten himself off to. It was then that reality smacked him upside the head hard; there not twenty feet ahead of him was that same girl that had seen in his injury-induced dream going through Ranma's morning katas.

Liriel was just getting into her last kata, planning to go back in afterwards, as it was getting late and she was beginning to get hungry when the door opened framing her old man within it. Breaking off, she yelled over at him, "Hey Pop's close your mouth, before you catch a fly!" It was with a satisfying pleasure that she watching the old man's eye's roll-up in his head as he fell over backwards out cold.

When Genma, once again awoke, he could tell that it had not been a nightmare, there standing over him was his son turned daughter. 'Oh, how Nodoka was going to kill him when she found out. It was the end of his and Soun's carefully woven plan to combine the two schools of Anything Goes into one and retire while their children did all the work.' Just as he was going to roll back over and pretend that it was all a dream again, he noticed something else that was strange about his new daughter. "Boy where did you find all those girly clothes? And, why are you wearing jewelry?" He started to scream at her, while moving to get up hoping to find someway to salvage some small part of his plans. Or, that was what he planned to do before her foot came crashing down on his head knocking him back down on the floor again.

"Look old man, I don't care what your problems are," she said to him, giving him a look that seemed to say that she knew what he was thinking. Just get your lazy ass up off the floor if you want any of what's left of breakfast or you will be missing another meal. Almost before she could finish, Genma was already up and across the room, shoveling what was left of breakfast into his greedy mouth.

After she was sure that Genma was nearly finished with cleaning the last grain of rice out of the cook pot, Liriel dropped her bombshell on the baka along with a glass of cold water activating his new curse. "While you have been lazily spending the morning sleeping, I have been talking to the guide that you worked so hard to avoid yesterday. How could you have not read that guidebook or asked about this place before you brought us here. Well, now we are both cursed, but there may be something that can be done about your curse. There's a Spring of Drowned man here, but …," but by that point she was talking to empty air as he had disappeared out the door toward the pools after the guide. 'She smiled thinking about how Genma would soon be testing out other of her theories about the curses. And, how she would be able to say that it was his own fault if it did not work the way he thought it would.' Turning around, Liriel began to walk towards the springs. 'At least he will not be jumping into the Spring of Virtuous man; she had thought about asking the guide to point that spring out to him but decided it would be best not having him telling everyone all their secrets. He was easier to control this way, and she could always use some of that water later if it seemed necessary.'

When Genma found the guide, he grabbed hold of the man while in his gorilla form waving a sign in his face demanding to know where the Spring of Drowned man was. Not listening to any of the guide's protests that this was not a good idea, he just applied more pressure until the guide turned and pointed at a spring saying, "There customer, that is the spring you are looking for, but …" By this point Genma was already cannon balling into the springs waters.

When Genma stood back up, he could tell that things had not turned out as he had expected. He could tell that fur still covered his body from top to bottom. Turning back, he jumped back out and began to yell at the guide for lying to him, only to realize that he could talk if in a very loud and growling voice. Looking down he could see that the spring had just mixed the two curses together, turning him into a hybrid of ape and man.

"Customer do very bad thing, jumping into pool only cause curses to mix if you are in your cursed form. Why did you not listen to me, when I was trying to warn you of this? Now this spring never work for you again. Only other spring that might work to cure you have effect on mind, Spring of Drowned Virtuous man," the guide said while shaking his head at the man's foolishness.

Author Notes:

(1) I am using the U.S. system of measurement here as the majority of my readers are in the U.S., regardless of the fact that the system should have been retired years ago. And, people tell me that we are an advanced nation here, go figure. In the metric system that would place Liriel at close to 160cm for height and 52.6 kg.

I do not currently have a proofreader for my work, and English is not my major, so don't attack me to harshly about my grammar. I started writing fan fiction more as a learning aid to improve my skills and believe that I have made great gains from when I first started. With that said, I hope you are enjoying the story.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: Riniko22

Disclaimer: The Characters and Places within this story are not mine, and remain the property of their respected owners. As such, I do not own them, nor am I making any money off them. So sad, honored reader, this very tragic tale of penniless author that fell into the spring of drowned …

The characters in this story will likely not act the same as in canon (written or video), so do not flame me about this. Some will have grown up with different influences on them leading them to react in different ways. Advice is always welcome.

AN: It is likely that some of you reader's will realize what is happening to Ranma earlier than others, but I hope you enjoy the somewhat slow start none-the-less.

It has been too long since I last posted and I hope you will forgive me for this has it has been a very difficult semester of study. Well on with the story.

Chapter 3: Dark Waters

When Liriel finally caught up to her father, she found him yelling and grunting at Guide about the state of his new blended curse. Thinking about her father's new appearance for a second she quipped, "Damn-it pop's why didn't you wait for me to finish what I was trying to tell you before you went running off. We'll be lucky if the this is the least of your problems now, what if you're stuck this way. Not that it is not an improvement over your regular look. But, look at the bright side at least now you have a full head of hair, even if it did come with a full body of hair to go with it."

"Shut up boy, we have to get you cured and then back to Japan,' Genma groused. It was a full minute before the entirely of what his new daughter said hit him and he went running off to the guide's hut in search of hot water to find out if he was trapped in his cursed form like his son.

After her father was out of hearing distance, Liriel turned to Guide and smiled before saying, "Honored Guide, will you be able to lead my father and me to the Amazon village? I feel that it would be better to arrive with someone that they are familiar with than to show up unannounced."

"I can lead honored customer part way, but it would be best if I do not take you all the way to the Amazon village, the Elders would wish to question me about you and I would not be able to keep your secrets from them. But, if I only lead you part of the way they will detect our approach well before our arrival and know that I directed you towards them. They will still wish to know more of customer, but will have to question you to know more. I warn you again that the Amazons are not ones to make enemies of and it would be best if you were the one in charge when dealing with them."

"I am well aware of how best to handle the Amazons. In many ways, they may well be the least of my worries. It is my father that I am unsure of how to handle, I am sure that he has done something already or soon will that complicate things," Liriel said in a somewhat distracted way as she contemplated her luck in fathers.

After a few moments, Liriel's attention seemed to refocus and she turned to Guide with a slight smile, "I think that it is about time that we retrieved my father and got on our way again, my problems will not go away just from wishful thinking."

When Liriel and Guide reached the guide's home, they found her father already changed back into his normal form and both of their packs next to the door ready for them to leave. Liriel suspected that her father had already looked through her pack, a suspicion that was soon confirmed when he thrust a few items that she had placed their just for this purpose in her direction and demanded, "What are these and what are they doing in your pack?"

"Why father, where else would I keep them? I am sure that you must have seen my intimates before at sometime during the months that I have been traveling with you and my soul mate Ranma." Liriel asked her father with a tone of voice and facial expression that one would use with a child that has repeatedly asked a particularly foolish question that they should already knew the answer to, just before snatching her clothing back from his hand. "Are you feeling alright, father? You have been acting most strange since acquiring your curse; it has almost been as if you don't recognize your own daughter-in-law?"

"Ranma, I don't know what your trying to play, but you are my son not some girl claiming to be my daughter-in-law," Genma barked back at her.

"Now father, you know my name is Liriel. Ranma married me right after you bargained your son in marriage to my family for an all-you-could-eat dinner and a bag of rice. I'm just glad that I was able to catch up with you and Ranma when you broke camp so early the next morning. It was almost like you were trying to lose me," Liriel explained to Genma as if this was a familiar argument after covertly casting a spell to modify Genma's memory.

For a moment, Genma's eyes seemed to glaze over for a second before snapping back into focus. "Uh, where is the boy then? We need to leave."

"Father, Ranma left yesterday morning before you started to work with me on balance training. The two of you got into an argument while sparring and he left saying he would be meeting us after arranging a boat for our return to Japan." Liriel said before looking at him closely.

"Are you feeling alright," Genma heard Liriel ask with what he thought was real concern in her voice. "I'm fine, let's leave we need to catch up to the boy."

"Father, the first thing that we are going to do is see about talking to someone about your curse, before we try to catch up to Ranma. And, before you say anything else, you know we need to get more supplies or do you wish to be eating just what we can catch on the way back. Going to the Amazon village will only take us a day out of the way and will more than make up for the lost time in the savings we will make in not having to hunt for food everyday," Liriel explained, knowing that she had him when she brought up the issue of food.

Genma just grunted and picked up his pack before leaving Liriel and Guide in the hut. Turning to their slightly confused host Liriel said, "I will wait for you outside and we will be ready to travel as soon as you are ready to leave," before following Genma outside.

Before they had waited ten minutes, the Jusenkyo Guide stepped out of his home with a small pack on his back and pulling the door shut behind him. "Honored customers I will lead you to the trail that you will need to follow to reach the Amazon village. The elders there are very knowledgeable about Jusenkyo and will be able to answer what questions you may have better than I, their people have lived near here for thousands of years," he said while grabbing a walking stick and beginning to hike towards the north of the valley.

Ryouga was pissed, that once again the coward Ranma had evaded his righteous revenge and given him the slip. He had almost had them, he could feel that he was getting closer to his goal of destroying Ranma's happiness and then he had lost all connection to him. Ryouga refused to believe that Ranma was dead; he had just found some cowardly way to hide from him, after-all Ranma could not die before he held Ranma's limp body in his hands and laughed in his face.

Turning his face upwards towards the heavens Ryouga screamed, "I'll find you Ranma and then I'll kill you. No one makes a fool of Ryouga Hibiki and walks away from it." At that moment, something wet and slimy hit him in the side of his head as the sky was darkened by the mass of birds that had taken flight from Ryouga's scream.

Cleaning himself off, Ryouga fumed in anger and thought. If I can find Ranma's father, I'm sure to find Ranma. So, he tried to bring up a picture of the man in his mind to focus his anger on. Finding that he was just giving himself a headache, Ryouga started to focus his anger on the man, Genma had brought Ranma into his life and he had dragged the boy again from him. As Ryouga's anger towards the fat bastard grew, he could feel the connection start to grow, it was still weak, but now he had something to go on now. Genma was responsible for his pain. Genma was responsible for his pain; the mantra was beginning to form in Ryouga's mind as he trudged on in search of release of his anguish.

It took Ryouga another full day before he could feel the connection firm again he was gaining on the pair. Seeing a ridge ahead of him, Ryouga began to climb towards it, always keeping his eyes on it and never allowing him self to blink both of his eyes at the same time in fear of losing his way again. Finally, he made it to the top of the ridge and looked down across a valley dotted with what seemed like hundreds of tiny pools. The beauty of the scene almost made the eternally Lost Boy to lose his focus of anger. Refocusing his anger Ryouga stepped forward a few steps as he scanned the valley for his prey. There along the far side of the valley's rim he detected some movement, reaching back while keeping his eyes on them he grasped his binoculars. Bring the lens up to his eyes he began to adjust the focus of the lens, until the figures snapped into crystal clarity. It was the object of his rage, Genma and two others, a heavy man in an old green military uniform and a dark skinned woman. Thrusting his arms upwards into the air, Ryouga yelled to the heavens, "I've found you now, Genma Saotome, prepare to die!" It was at this point that the crumbling cliff edge that Ryouga had been inching towards gave way, sending Ryouga freefalling down the side of the mountain to the valley floor below.

Across the valley, three figures stop momentarily, each for slightly different reasons. One having the feeling of a dark cloud passing, the second the feeling of an obligation that has been temporarily postponed, and the third pausing with a feeling of intense localized pressure and then with the sound of breaking wind it passes. The moment gone the three refocus on current issues.

"Oh, my god, pop's what did you … No; on second thought don't tell me. Let's just get out of here before something else happens." Liriel snapped before sprinting ahead.

After half a day of traveling their guide stops, rising his hand saying, "Honored customers, we have entered the territory claimed by the village of Joketsuzoku, home of the Amazons. If you travel down this trail for another hour, you will find their village. I wish you good fortune with your future."

"Hey, were do you think you are going?" Genma exclaimed. "What will they think when we just show up and how will they know what we want?"

"Customer should be aware that we have been under the observation of their village for the last twenty minutes, and the Amazons will have others that can translate for you. I must return to the valley, it is not good for the pools to be unwatched for too long a time," Guide spoke before bowing and making ready to return to his home.

"Thank you Guide for your help on our journey, may the future only bring you good fortune," Liriel said before bowing back. Turning back around to Genma, "Come along father, I am sure that the Amazons will be able to offer us some useful consul and access to a warm meal." With those words, she started walking along the trail, knowing that her father would soon be hurrying to catch up with the thought of a meal ahead of him.

Liriel had barely walked ten steps before she heard Genma turn and begin to increase his stride to catch up with her. She had been thinking about what they would find when they reached the village that Guide had told her about the other night and along the way as they traveled. She was worried about the reaction that the two of them would produce when they reached the village. From what she had learned, the village is ruled by a matriarchal society of elder women who dominate the men totally, it left her was a slight feeling of mental disorientation as the two aspects of her being rolled the thought around her mind. Part of her felt that this was only the natural order of things, while the Ranma half felt that it was weird, even though it knew that Genma's teaching were wrong, it just left her with a odd feeling as they grew closer. One thing was for certain, she would have to do something about Genma while they were there or he would find some way to get into trouble. She felt a brief hesitation before she cast the Charm spell at Genma, wondering how a man that was so controlling of his son could have such a weak will.

"Father, I think it would be best if you allowed me to do the majority of the speaking while we are in the Amazons village. Could you do that for me?" Liriel asked while crossing her fingers in a sign of hope.

A warring look passed over her father's features for a second before he nodded his head in her direction and said, "That may be a good idea boy, uh daughter." Genma fumbled for a moment before continuing, "There is an old proverb that goes, the wisest course of speech a man can take when dealing with women is some times silence." When he finished, Liriel could swear that he was not really focusing on the present, but as if he was repeating words of wisdom that he had learned in a harsh way, but that now irritated her.

"Then it is agreed father, I will speak to the Amazons for the two of us, and I will seek your wisdom when it is needed." As Liriel finished these words, the village came into view ahead with the thinning of the trees.

Author Notes:

If you, Liriel, or myself fully believe that this will keep Genma from doing something to cause trouble, think again.

I do not currently have a proofreader for my work, and English is not my major, so don't attack me to harshly about my grammar. I started writing fan fiction more as a learning aid to improve my skills and believe that I have made great gains from when I first started. With that said, I hope you are enjoying the story.


End file.
